24 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER. 
the fall of 1823, there were about ten cords of compost manure drawn on the 
lot, and put in a heap. Most of the said compost was drawn from the salt 
marshes, when ditching the same; the other part was from the barn-yard. 
In the month of April, 1824, the heap was thrown over, and well mixed. 
Planting .—Col. Powel says, “ The holes for the seeds were made by a 
wheel, containing pegs in its circumference, which penetrated the ground 
about an inch, leaving intervals of four inches; the rows were made 2 feet 
asunder; two capsules were dropped in each hole ; the wheel of a common 
barrow was passed over them, thus compressing the earth, and leaving a 
slight rut for the retention of moisture.” 
Messrs. Tristram and Henry Little observe, that,^ Between the 8th and 
11 th of May, the land was plowed and sowed in the following manner:— 
After one deep plowing, the ground was furrowed two and a half feet 
apart, and the manure put into the furrows, and covered wfith a double 
mould-board plcfw; a roller was then passed on the top of the ridge, and 
the seed dibbled in with the finger over the manure, about six or eight 
inches apart.” The quantity of seed, according to English writers, is four 
pounds to an acre. Mr. David Little, in obtaining a premium crop, sowed 
four pounds, but observed that he thought half that quantity would have 
been sufficient. 
Gathering and preserving. —In gathering the roots, care should be taken to 
cut off the leaves about half an inch above the crown, as they will not keep 
so well, if cut more closely. Messrs. Tristram and Henry Little say, “ As 
to the best mode of preserving them, we have tried divers ways,—by pitting 
them, by putting them into a barn, and covering them with hay, and by 
putting them into the cellar; the last mode we think the best.” Col. 
Powel observes, that one of his crops was “ piled in a cellar, in rows, as 
wood, and covered with sand.” A writer in the English Farmer's Journal , 
observes, that he has practiced, with success, the following mode of pre¬ 
serving this root:—■“ I pack it in long heaps, about seven feet wide at the 
bottom. I begin by forming the outsides with the roots, not stripped of 
their tops; tops outwards ; the internal parts to be filled with roots without 
leaves; continue one layer over another, until the heap is about six fee; 
high, and about two feet broad at top, which may be covered with straw’ 
and earth; the ends of the heap should be covered in the same way; the 
leaves form an efficient covering against rain and frost.” 
Mr. McMahon’s mode of preserving beets, and other roots, is as follows :— 
14 Previous to the commencement of severe frost, you should take up, wfith 
as little injury as possible, the roots of your turnips, carrots, parsnips, beets, 
salsify, scorzonera, Hamburg or large-rooted parsley, skirrets, Jerusalem ar¬ 
tichokes, turnip-rooted celery, and a sufficiency of horse-radish, for he win¬ 
ter consumption ; cut off their tops, an 1 expose the roots for a few lours till 
sufficiently dry. On the surface of a very dry spot of ground, in a weP 
